Holding the Baby
by James.Bean
Summary: Placing the kid onto a clear desk, she pondered just how to approach the situation. Did she need a hazmat suit? A gasmask? She had never smelt anything as vile as the stench the cute little blonde kid was currently emitting. Lennox owed her big for this.
1. Chapter 1: Surprise

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Transformers, all rights to belong to their respective owners. Anything you recognise belongs to them, anything you don't belongs to me.

**Story Summary:**

Placing the kid onto a clear desk. Emily pondered just how to approach the situation. Did she need a hazmat suit? A gasmask? In all honesty she had never smelt anything as vile as the stench the cute little blonde kid was currently emitting. Lennox owed her big for this.

**So I was busy working on TRNT and this popped into my head. It's not to be taken seriously it's just something that wouldn't go away. So read, review. Many thanks.**

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><p><strong>Holding the baby.<strong>

Just ten baby fingers and ten baby toes-

Troubles? Scandal?

Gosh- Nobody knows.

**-The Bachelor Mother.**

She had just finished her twelve hour shift.

She was tired, she was grumpy. Her eyes were hurting from staring at a computer screen all day, her back ached from being hunched over her desk and she could feel the beginnings of an encroaching headache.

What Emily really wanted to do was go home, have a nice long soak, and not have to worry about encryptions, viruses, coding or computers full stop. What she really wanted to do was switch off. She chuckled to herself. The chance would be a fine thing. In her two years of working at NEST she had yet to encounter a time when she could just switch off and not have to worry about implementing safe guards or any other odds and ends that always needed to be fixed or upgraded.

The sun was just setting over Diego Garcia, the sky filled with a soft pinkie- orange hue. It was the perfect time of night, the heat was just about bearable and the traffic on the way home would be considerable less than it would have been during rush hour. Packing up her small bag she grabbed her jacket, phone and keys from her locker and made her way out towards her bike, bidding bye to the MP's stationed in the guard room outside. She lifted up the holdall under her seat to produce her helmet, when she heard it...

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><p>"Yo Quinn! Quinn wait up." Emily Quinn turned towards the sound of her name, seeing the familiar figure of Weapons Technician Caitlyn Henry rushing over to catch up with her.<p>

"Jeez, for a small person you sure walk fast." Caitlyn panted somewhat outta breath. Emily stared at the red head amused. When Emily had learnt that that Caitlyn was part of NEST she had been openly surprised and amused at the fact. After all it was damn near drilled into everyone that NEST were the best of the best. They prided themselves on the physical prowess of their soldiers ... and well looking at Caitlyn - the image didn't really fit. Caitlyn wasn't the fittest person she had ever encountered. The young technician smoked too much, drank too much and probably ate too much too (not that you could tell). Hell, Emily was more fit and active then Cat and Emily proclaimed herself to be a self certified couch potato.

"What's up?" It was a simple enough question she had thought. When one usually runs across half of the car park, it's generally because they want you for something. It was only after such a small innocuous question was asked did Caitlyn seem to look decidedly shifty. A look that wasn't missed by the programmer. She may have been good at reading computers,but she was an excellent people reader, especially when that were all acting as suspiciously as the 25 year old weapons tech was. Yes she may have been a computer geek. She just wasn't one of those computer geeks who had no people skills whatsoever. It was the common assumption that most people had of her upon their first meeting. She had even been called O'Brien once as a joke. That had gone down as quickly as the Titanic.

"Cat? What have you done?" Arms folded, eyebrows raised. Caitlyn knew the look well. It was the look Emily got whenever she meant business.

"Erm, well you've just finished your shift, right?" Emily nodded the affirmative, at this particular moment there was no point in lying. "And you have no plans, right? Of course you don't you never do…" Caitlyn backtracked quickly at the raised eyebrows of her friend.

"Well, its just, we have a situation on base - and it requires someone with a trustworthy and patient personality and - it's really important. Imperative even. You'll get paid for the overtime of course…" Caitlyn babbled away words spewing from her mouth so fast that Emily had trouble keeping up.

"What is it?" Another simple question. Caitlyn looked as though Emily had asked her to work out the square root of Pi. She was even more twitchy than she had done before. So Emily reasoned whatever Cat had signed her up to do, she wasn't gonna like it - at all.

"Just follow me…please?" It must have been the puppy dog eyes that Caitlyn had used. For whatever reason, once that Emily couldn't fathom she found herself following the 5"6 female back into the NEST hanger, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

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><p>The first thing Emily noticed was the presence of the autobots. Not that she could fucking miss them, they were that huge. Of course she had seen them from a distance, driving, shooting that kind of thing. Her job meant that there was ever any need to be up close and personal with them. The suddenly large hanger seemed dainty with towering Autonomous Robotic Organisms seemingly stood about - all powered up and raring to go. So to say she was trying not to stare was a huge understatement.<p>

The next thing she noticed was the increased hustle and bustle of the hanger. Squads of NEST teams, suiting and booting up. Commands been shouted over to one an other. Weapons being checked. Choppers and Humvees been fueled.

Following her friend, Emily finally noticed the small group of soldiers currently huddled around Optimus left foot. Glancing across each of their faces, she managed to recognize a few Epps, Marsden , Lennox. She backtracked at that. Lennox? She scrubbed her eyes, in case her mind was playing tricks.

No he was till there, still with fussing daughter attached to his hip.

Emily was somewhat flabbergasted at the sight.

Not at Lennox holding his daughter, _no._

What surprised the young programmer was the fact that Lennox was actually on base. Actually suited and booted and in operational gear; whilst attempting to calm his fussing daughter. After all Lennox was on leave, (rumour had it that he was currently going through a messy divorce). Therefore ideally shouldn't he be at home trying to calm his fussing daughter?

So what in God's green earth of was he doing there with the squirt in tow? It seemed a bit late for a impromptu _'bring your kid to work day.'_ And Emily highly doubted those would be happening any time soon what with the autobots rolling around and a thing about national security.

It didn't take a genius to work out just what the hell Caitlyn had volunteered her to do and Emily was all for walking the fuck out right now. That was until a deep set of brown eyes had set themselves onto her.

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><p>"This her?" Lennox asked warily, weighing up the approaching female in a scrutinizing manor. Short, petite around 5"4. Slender build, brown hair, green eyes set behind thick wired glasses. She was biting her top lip nervously and Emily seemed to pause in her tracks when she met his gaze.<p>

He was really was beautiful in a manly way. So caught up in how beautiful he actually was she appeared to miss half of the conversation buzzing over the top of her head, until the deep vibrations of Ironhide's voice cut through her current musings.

"…She seems competent enough. She is female after all. Isn't it programmed into their systems …?" Ironhide replied looking at the small human female inquisitively. She appeared some what daunted about the current situation, her soon to be ex best friend had gotten her into.

"Competent enough for what?" She questioned as the group shared a few uneasy glances.

"It won't be for long." Major Lennox explained hurriedly. "It's just that I was called in unexpectedly." Lennox sends a pointed look towards Prime and the autobot leader almost looks sheepish at the comment.

Emily nodded staring at them all. Bright green eyes flicking back and forth from Will to the kid and then back to Will and the expectant look that had suddenly appeared on his face.

"Oh no. Oh no. No definitely not." She was shaking her head hands held out defensively, as though she was trying to ward the kid away just by gesturing at it.

"Please, Em. They're desperate here…and it's extra pay. It'll only be for a couple of hours…" Emily didn't have the time to even protest. For the kid was hurriedly deposited into her arms. The changing bag was dropped onto the floor next to her as Lennox rolled off a list of do's and don'ts, while Epps was laughing heartedly. Seemingly finding the whole situation beyond hilarious. She would have narrowed a glare in his direction, if she wasn't so utterly dumbfounded at her current situation.

"What?" Was the only word she managed to utter as she looked into the chubby cheeked blonde hair blue eyed two year old, currently staring up at her smiling. Said two year old who thought it would be a brilliant idea to suddenly latch on to her necklace and try to strangle her with it, such was the strength of the kids grip.

"It'll only be for a couple of hours." Lennox hastened to add at the unwilling babysitter. "You be a good girl for Daddy Annabelle." A brief kiss and he's waving goodbye jogging towards the awaiting vehicles. Annabelle begins waving enthusiastically back, her small chubby hand still gripping tightly onto her necklace. What did the kid have a Vulcan death grip? The small procession quickly made their escape; and so she was left holding the baby so to speak.

"You're a natural Em!" Caitlyn shouted out as she followed Lennox and Epps towards the waiting Humvees. "You'll be fine!" Was the last thing Em heard as the red head disappeared from view. The screech of tires and transforming metal filled the hangar as Emily watched them deploying NEST teams disappear into a blanket of sand and descending darkness.

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><p>The hangar seemed somewhat quiet after half of the base had just rolled out. Sighing loudly she glanced around, noticing that they were effectively for the lack of a better term left on their own.<p>

She felt an awful lot like Ginger Rogers at that moment.

"Looks like its just you and me kid." The kid stared up at the unfamiliar face looking somewhat perplexed. Well as much as a 2 year old could look at someone. And then it hit her, literally. She was surprised not to see a green haze surrounding her at that particular moment.

"You have gotta be kidding me." She groaned out in disgust. Unless she was mistaken, that god awful smell that had suddenly reached her nostrils appeared to be coming from the kids now seemingly full nappy.

Lennox, Caitlyn … even Optimus owed her big time for this.

Placing the kid onto a clear desk. Emily pondered just how to approach the situation. Did she need a hazmat suit? A gasmask? In all honesty she had never smelt anything as vile as the stench the cute little blonde kid was currently emitting.

Jesus, just what did this kid eat? Trash?

Picking a clean nappy out of the changing bag, Emily braced herself.

So much for having a relaxing night.

This wasn't gonna be pretty. This wasn't going to be pretty at all.

"Okay. On the count of three kid." The kid just smiled, kicking her legs happily at the current turn of events.

One, two…

"Oh sweet Jesus!"

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><p>TBC ...maybe.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: Sleep

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Transformers, all rights to belong to their respective owners. Anything you recognise belongs to them, anything you don't belongs to me.

**Story Summary:**

Placing the kid onto a clear desk. Emily pondered just how to approach the situation. Did she need a hazmat suit? A gasmask? In all honesty she had never smelt anything as vile as the stench the cute little blonde kid was currently emitting. Lennox owed her big for this.

**So this was gonna be a one shot, but I was inspired to write more. It's not to be taken seriously it's just something that wouldn't go away. So read, review. Many thanks.**

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><p><strong>Holding the baby.<strong>

The cats nestle close to their kittens,

The lambs have laid down with the sheep.

You're cosy and warm in you bed, my dear,

Please go the fuck to sleep.

- Adam Mansbach. Go the Fuck to Sleep.

**Sleep.**

It was 10:00 pm on a Thursday night and Emily found herself in the middle of a staring contest with a two year old. She was finding it hard to just not start crying herself.

She should have been at home in bed, sleeping. Instead she stuck in a confined space, _babysitting._

The confined space didn't bother her - no being stuck with the demon child irked her somewhat. Annabelle Lennox in Emily Quinns humble opinion was the devil incarnate. She had to be. There was no logical explanation for it. After cleaning up the potential hazmat suit situation earlier on. She had witnessed a tempter tantrum that had damn near blown her ear drum, just because she had relocated to her office. Relocated to her office after spending an hour of chasing said two year old around the hanger. A two year old who was intent on career of either escaping, espionage or just plain old hiding.

Emily had succeeded in thwarting all of Annabelle's attempts to hide. Something Annabelle was most displeased by if her screaming was anything to go by.

Honestly the kid had sounded as though she was being murdered if that horrendous wail had been anything to go by. And Emily was quite concerned that the MP's would show up pointing their guns and demanding that child be removed from her custody for the safety of the bases humanity and ear drums.

The hanger was just to open for a two year old to be in, along with plenty of small hidey holes Annabelle could sneak into. Emily really didn't want to face the wrath of Will Lennox when she had to explain that she had managed to inadvertently lose his daughter.

So yes she was still babysitting, still stuck in her office. Still having a staring contest.

The battle of wills raged forever on.

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><p>The thought of having children had never entered Emily's head. After all she was 24,she didn't have to worry about her biological tick tocking away. Watching Annabelle for a few hours however; had effectively quashed any maternal instinct that she would ever have.<p>

_Ever._

She blinked and the battle was lost.

There was no way that stare was natural. It was just damn right eerie and most definitely reminded Emily of the girls Father.

It was like having a miniature female version of Lennox in the room.

Creepy beyond belief.

"…No."

Emily blinked, flabbergasted because really like she couldn't have seen that one coming. Her mouth was opening and closing so much so she had taken on the resemblance of a fish outta water.

Well, there was no denying it she certainly felt like one at the moment.

After all parenting wasn't high on her list of achievements. Her family had said that she was incapable of looking after herself properly, so how did they expect her to look after her nieces and nephews? She was subsequently vetoed out of any forthcoming babysitting duties until said nieces and nephews were at least 21 and could therefore take responsibility of their aunt.

"Oh c'mon. Please just go to sleep. _Please_…." It was a plead of desperation and she knew she had slipped up the moment she had said it. What did her sister-in-law say when dealing with children ,_"whatever you do don't show any weakness whatsoever." _

"_Yeah,.." _Her brother had added in agreement with his wife, _"They're like Piranha's they can smell it."_ He had received a slap to the back of the head from Sam for his comment.

Well she'd certainly failed right there, hadn't she?

Another stare out. She could feel her left eye beginning to twitch. This was ridiculous! Beyond ridiculous really. But what could she do? She was defenceless against the spawn of the devil.

"….No."

"_What is wrong with you?" _Emily muttered to herself furiously. Honestly how hard was it for a baby to go to sleep? Wasn't it programmed into them? They had three basic needs right? Eating, shitting and sleeping? The first two she had seen Annabelle do, and plenty of. So what the hell was wrong with Annabelle Lennox? Why couldn't she just go to sleep?

She felt like throwing a tantrum herself.

"_It'll only be for a couple of hours." _Emily mimicked to herself snidely. That couple of hours had been six hours ago. She was close on verging a nervous breakdown.

"C'mon Annabelle…it's way past beddy byes." Dear God, how much worse could it get? Baby talk now? She was an intelligent 24 year old woman and now she was talking baby. She was sinking fast, big brother baby, all the way down.

Christ, she needed a drink.

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><p>"…Daddy!" Annabelle shrill voice called out desperately and Emily really did feel for the kid, because she had a feeling that this wasn't how Annabelle wanted her night to turn out either. "Stowy…" Annabelle replied unhappily. The army issue blanket screwed up at her feet after the temper tantrum from hell. Cushion thrown angrily on the floor and her snuggly (which Emily had found stashed into the changing bag) gripped furiously in her small hand as though daring her to take it away. Annabelle's eyes were wide staring up warily at Emily - the expression clearly <em>said 'you have no idea what you're doing do you? And for that I'm going to make your life hell.' <em>

Well Emily thought it did anyway.

"Look, sweetheart. " She sat on the floor of her carpeted office, right next to Annabelle's impromptu bed. "Daddy isn't here right now, he's off…" She couldn't exactly say fighting gigantic evil robots could she? " ...He's off saving the world." A little cliche, but still true. "As for me? Well I'm fresh outta stories. In fact I'm the worst story teller ever. Looks like you got a tough break here, kiddo."

A pause and Annabelle's face scrunched up, the color of her face going an unnatural angry looking red, and for a heart stopping moment Emily thought she was actually going to start crying, again. _Please God no._ Instead the blonde haired two year flopped down backwards onto the hastily constructed cot. Said cot consisted of two padded chairs pushed together. High sides to prevent Annabelle from rolling out when she was asleep.

If she ever went to sleep that was.

"'Winkle 'winkle!"

It took Emily a moment to process what the kid had said.

"Twinkle Twinkle?" She paused, "Little star?" She questioned. "You want me to sing this? And you'll go to sleep if I sing this?" Annabelle eagerly nodded her head.

"Okay." She paused bracing herself_, here goes nothing_. "Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are." Good her voice was terrible, no auditions of American Idol any time soon. "Up above the world so high. Like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are…" She pauses. Not a sound could be heard going to stand the brunette thinks that just this once God is on her side.

"Again!"

Oh for the love of God,_ why?_

Looking towards the ceiling she let out a sigh that was close to hysteria.

She was almost tempted to shake her fists skywards.

_Why do you hate me so!_

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><p>Emily was waiting for the team by the time they had pulled into the hanger, with a dozing but not fully asleep Annabelle in her arms. She was thoroughly exhausted. Had drunken copious amounts of coffee and if she ever heard the words <em>no<em>, and_ again _it would be a moment too soon. Emily in short felt like a jittery, twitchy and suicidal mess.

Annabelle was therefore deposited into her Fathers arms the moment he had stepped off the Humvee. Emily didn't care if he was dirty or sweaty or tired. Didn't care that he hadn't managed to dazzle her with that smile of his, or make her legs go like jelly just by catching her gaze. In fact Will didn't even manage to get in a smile or a hello before he was awkwardly holding onto his daughter and the petite brunette was storming past in a hurry.

"Hey, wait up. Everything ok?" Will called out practically chasing after the younger woman. Emily stopped suddenly causing the Major to nearly walk into her back before hurriedly turning to face him.

"Ok? Ok!" She screeched voice so high, that she had a feeling that only dogs could hear. "Are you fu-" She stopped eyes suddenly snapping up to Anna at her inadvertent slip up. "...Flipping serious? A couple of hours you said - and here I am 9 hours later!" She breathed in angrily, her nostrils flaring, and eyes daring him to say anything. "I have to back here in three hours!" She harshly whispered out at him. "You owe me…" her eyes narrowed once again into angry slits and Will took an involuntary step back as her finger harshly prodded him in the chest. "…big time."

Caitlyn smiled moving towards her, but Emily had already spied her in her peripheral vision. "You..!" She pointed at the red head, who stopped mid step, her expression taken on the look of a deer caught in the headlights. Caitlyn's hands immediately shot up in a gesture of surrender, as though she was warding of an attack. "... don't talk to me!" She bit out. Turning towards the dozing Annabelle, who was currently playing with the zipper on her Fathers jacket. Her face temporarily softened at how peaceful the kid looked. "You be good Anna." She said quietly stroking the downy hair on top of her head. Giving one last glare at Will, Caitlyn and (even Optimus who was currently not aware of the ongoing situation), she turned on her heel; storming out of the hanger as though the hounds of hell were on her tail.

"The female seems irate is everything well?" Ironhide questioned, his loud footsteps coming to rest next his human charge.

"I honestly have no idea." Will answered truthfully somewhat perplexed by the sudden turn of events.

"I guess here that little 'Belle was a handful huh?" Staff Sergeant Robert Epps called out making funny faces towards the child who laughed out heartedly at him. Slapping his friend heavily on the back. "You got some making up to do, huh?" Epps asked quietly before making his way to the wash rooms.

Will shook his head wearily, listening to the roar of a bike as Emily disappeared off of base and into the night.

_Women, he would never understand them. _

Ironhide guffawed. Arms folding across his chest he stared off into the darkness.

"I guess femmes are the same for any race." He concluded in that low grumble of his.

"How's that 'hide?"

"Crazy."

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><p>TBC...<p> 


End file.
